Memories Of Another Day Part 10

"No, you won't," the clerk said. "You go back to work or you git docked."

"Okay," Daniel said purposefully. "I'll go back an' tell him. But you know Andy. He don' mess aroun'. He's goin' to come up here hisself."

The clerk backed down. Everyone knew Andy's reputation. He had been in the mines all his life and had a very short temper. n.o.body got into an argument with him unless he was prepared to fight. "Okay," he said. "Tell him I'll git some pumps down there."

Daniel nodded. He turned to leave. The clerk called him back. "You new aroun' here?"

''Not'zactly,"

''What's your name?"

''Dan'l Boone Huggins."

The cleric made a note on the sheet of paper in front of him. "Okay," he said. "FU remember that."

"You took yer own sweet time about it," the timekeeper said sourly as Daniel went past him.

Daniel didn't answer. He went down into the blackness. Andy came over to him. "What about the pumps?"

"The super wasn't there," Daniel replied. "The clerk says he'll git 'em down to us."

Andy nodded grimly. He kicked the ground beneath his foot. The water sprayed. "They better git here d.a.m.n soon," he said. "I got a feelin' we're comin' into an undergroun' spring." He looked up at Daniel. "You start bringin' over shorin' planks."

"Okay," Daniel said. He walked along the tunnel until he reached the stack of shoring timber. Then, one by one, he laboriously dragged the ten-foot planks through the thick mud back to the end of the tunnel.

Nearly an hour had pa.s.sed, and he had moved almost thirty of the two-by-eight planks, when he heard the pickman yell, "Hey, foreman! I hit water!"

For a moment they all froze, lookmg at Andy. The foreman was calm, his eyes appraising the situation. A stream of water was gushing from the far wall, washing the earth away.

"Don't stand there lookin' at it, you donkeys!" Andy shouted. "Start packin' it."

Immediately a dozen shovels began to fly, throwing the earth back against the wall in an effort to seal off the water. "Git the shorin' planks up there!" Andy yelled. "I want a two-foot wall." He turned to another man. "Dig a drain trench."

They all worked frantically, but it took more than an hour before the water was sealed off, and by that time they were all heaving and sweating with the exertion. One by one they dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

Andy leaned against the shoring planks and looked down at them. He ran his arm across his forehead, wiping away the dripping sweat. He took a deep breath. '*On yer feet," he said. "Move that coal. We're more'n twenty ton behind already."

Daniel struggled to his feet. His clothing was soaked through to his skin. "What about the pumps?" he asked.

Andy stared at him. "f.u.c.k 'em," he said. "We're okay now. Let the night shift git 'em, like they should've in the first place."

"But-" Daniel said.

The foreman fixed him with a baleful eye. "You start loading coal in them trucks," he said. "Or I'll have your a.s.s outta here."

Daniel stood there hesitantly.

"Git a move on!" Andy snapped. "It ain't our affair to worry any more about 'em than they worry about us."

Silently Daniel went to work. The foreman was right. Each man had to look out for himself.

That was the way it seemed until about three o'clock in the morning, when the weird, wailing shriek of the mine whistle pierced his sleep.

He sat up in bed rubbing his eyes. The other boys in the room were already awake. "I wonder what that's fer," one of the boys said.

Outside, there was a sound of people running. He went over to the window and looked out. Already men were pouring from their homes into the night street. He pulled up the window and leaned out. "What happened?" he yelled down.

A man stopped and looked up at him, his face white and pale in the night. "Cave-in at the mine!" the man shouted back. "The West Tunnel fell in!"

I.

His eyes glistened behind the wire-framed pince-nez. Daniel followed the man's gaze. In the few minutes they had been standing there, the mud line on the shoring planks had risen almost an inch.

"It's still comin' in." The superintendent's voice was expressionless.

''Yes, sir." Andy's customarily booming voice was hushed.

"Why didn't you get pumps in here?" the super asked.

"I sent Daniel for 'em," Andy answered. "He came back without 'em."

The super turned to Daniel. "Why didn't you bring them back with you?"

Daniel cleared his throat. "The clerk said he would send them down."

The super turned back to Andy. "I think we'd better get up to the office." He started to leave, then stopped. "'Bring the boy with you." He stepped down from the shoring; then, walking carefully on the wooden planks so that his shoes would not get wet, he made his way out of the tunnel.

Andy stared after him for a moment, then spat some tobacco juice onto the ground. He looked at Daniel. "You sure you spoke to the clerk, Daniel?"

"I'm not in the habit o' lyin', Mr. Androjewicz," Daniel said quietly.

Andy didn't answer. He climbed down from the planks and waited as Daniel followed him. He turned to the work gang. "Keep pumpin' an' see if you kin move some of that dirt some more."

The men nodded and went back to work. But as fast as they could empty each shovelful into the barrel, the wet earth moved to fill up the gap. Andy stood there for a moment watching them, then started off. "C'mon, Daniel," he flung back over his shoulder.

The daylight outside the mine hurt Daniel's eyes and the strange silence of the waiting crowd of people pressed heavily on him. When his eyes cleared, he could see the women, their heads covered with worn shawls, their mouths tightly pressed with fear. He saw children with wide, dark, silent eyes, and men whose patient faces reflected their familiarity with death in the mines.

One of the older men spoke to Andy as he walked by. ''What's it like down there?''

Andy shook his head without answering. A hushed sigh of pain escaped from the crowd. Then the quiet again, the terrible quiet of resignation.

"It's been two days," another man said. ''You git any closer to em?"

"No," Andy answered. "The groun's too wet an' still movin'."

A woman began to cry. Immediately her neighbors gathered around to shield her tears. A moment later they were taking her away. There was an old rule. No tears at the mine shaft. You must never show that hope is lost.

Daniel followed Andy into the office. The clerk looked up from behind his desk. He gestured to the door behind him. "Mr. Smathers says for you to go right in."

There were two other men in the office with the superintendent. They were seated in chairs next to Mr. Smathers, who was behind the desk. An open drawing of the mine was on the desk in front of them. Smathers made the introductions. "This is Mr. Androjewicz, foreman of the day shift in the West Tunnel. Andy, Mr. Carter and Mr. Riordan-government safety engineers."

The men nodded. They did not offer to shake hands. Andy made no move either.

"These gentlemen are trying to establish the reason for the cave-in," Mr. Smathers said.

Andy nodded. He didn't speak. Any d.a.m.n fool ought to know why the cave-in happened. Too much water. The pumps might have prevented it, but there weren't any pumps, so there was nothing anyone could do about it now.

Mr. Carter was the first to speak. "I understand you tapped a spring on your shift and that you packed and sh.o.r.ed it. Why didn't you also put pumps on?"

''I asked for pumps, but they never sent 'em down," Andy said.

''You, personally?"

"No, sir. I sent Daniel here."

The two men looked at Daniel. "Who did you ask?"

Daniel stared at them. "That clerk out there."

The two men glanced at each other silently.

"If'n you don' believe me," Daniel said quickly, "why don' you jes' call 'im in an' ask 'im?"

Mr. Smathers spoke quietly. "We already did, boy. He says you never came up here. Now, why don't you just tell us the truth? We'll go easy on you."

Daniel began to feel an anger rising inside him. "I am tellin' the truth, Mr. Smathers. Twenty-seven men are dead down there. I knew some of 'em. Do you think I would lie if I was guilty of their death?"

"He insists no one came up here to ask for pumps," Mr. Smathers repeated.

"I was up here," Daniel said hotly. "The timekeeper even checked me out."

"There's nothing on his report," the super said. "We looked at it."

Daniel felt the color leave his face. They were all in on this together. They were going to hang it on him to save their own necks. He thought quickly, looking from one to the next. "Mr. Smathers, did you ask him about me by name?"

"How could I, boy?" the superintendent asked testily. "I don't even know your name."

"Do you think your clerk might?"

"What for? He's got nothing to do with personnel."

"He wrote my name down in a book on his desk," Daniel said. "He was mad when I tol' him Andy would come after him if'n he didn' send us the pumps an' he made a point of askin' my name."

''Even if he knows your name," Smathers said, "it won't prove anything."

''It'll prove I was up here like I said," Daniel answered.

Andy spoke suddenly. "I'll vouch fer Daniel here. He's not a liar."

"I'm afraid you're wrong," Smathers said smoothly. "No matter what the boy says."

"It don' cost you nothin' to check the book on his desk," Andy said. His face began to flush.

Smathers stared at him silently for a moment, then rose. "Come with me, gentlemen."

They followed him into the outer office. The clerk looked up at them. "Hatch," the super asked. "Do you know this boy here?"

Hatch answered. "No, sir."

"Did you ever see him before?"

"No, sir."

Smathers glanced at the two men. "Satisfied?"

They nodded.

Smathers started back into his office. At the door, he turned and looked back at the clerk. "Hatch, get me the boy's personnel record from the file."

They followed him into his office and he closed the door behind him. He walked behind his desk and sat down. Daniel stared at him. "Ifn he don' know my name, how's he gonna git my record?"

Smathers looked at Daniel, a sudden respect coming into his eyes. "You think, boy," he said.

A moment later the clerk entered the room. He held a paper in his hand. He placed it on the desk m front of Mr. Smathers and started to leave.

"Hatch." Mr. Smathers picked up the paper and was looking at it. "You brought me the wrong file."

Hatch turned, a look of confusion coming into his face. "Oh, no, sir. That's the right file. Daniel Boone Huggins. It's marked right on . . ." His voice sud- denly trailed off as he became aware they were all staring at him.

''What they goin' to do with 'im?" Daniel asked.

Andy shifted uncomfortably on the log outside the superintendent's office on which they were sitting, his narrowed eyes watching the mine entrance. "Nothin'."

Daniel was shocked. *'But it was his fault-''

"Shut your mouth!" Andy's voice was sharp. ''You fergit about that, now. The company ain't about to take the blame for what happened. Jes' be thankful they didn't lay it on you."

"But they got to give some reason," Daniel protested.

"They will," Andy answered. "Mark my words, they will."

The door to the building opened. Smathers stood there. "Come back inside."

They went into the building. Hatch was sitting at his desk, his head bent over an open ledger. He didn't look up as they walked past him into the superintendent's office.

Smathers closed the door behind him and went back to his desk and sat down. The two government engineers stood casually against the wall. Smathers looked up at Andy. "We've established the reason for the cave-in and we would like to know if you agree with us."

Andy was silent.